Category Archives: Sketchbook

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The snow is falling, the lights are up around town and the mountain is open and ready for action.

It has been a beautiful Fall. Lots of brilliant colour and crisp, clear days… interspersed with torrential downpours, low-lying cloud and very short days.

I love it all. The worse the weather the less motivated I am to get outdoors and play. I feel less guilt for cozying up indoors and creating.

November, you have been true to yourself. Thank you.

Inspired by all the fall colours – red, orange, faded greens and greys. A peek into my sketchbook proves that these are probably my most favourite colours.

I have been slowly updating my work around here. A new branding is in the works based on pen, paper, paint and pattern. I am updating my site to include all of my hand painted and collage work. I am loving the process of creating all new artwork in this style, but admit it is a bit of a slow process. So far I have managed to change my name from ‘Artistically Afflicted” to Julie Hamilton Creative.

Small steps.

I will be keeping the blog all full of my afflicted ways, but will have a separate portfolio site.

I am dying to get my hands on Fiona Humberstones new book How to Style your Brand It has been sold out forever and finally just when I thought I could get my hands on it, they wouldn’t deliver to Canada. Crazy. Check out her site for lots of beautiful images and helpful advice on branding You.

I haven’t given myself an end goal date as I am trying to take this slowly and be in love with the finished product. I know what I want to create, but just want to make sure that I am representing myself the way that I would like to be perceived. Trust me, sometimes I am not even sure what that looks like.

It is a start!

In the mean time my licensing work is busy.I have a new embroidery contract with Janome (Acudesign) which I will be sharing shortly. I have another piece being published in Stampington & Co. and I am busy creating a new concept for a dream client. It is all about forward momentum and not losing sight of the Why.

Sharing with you a few things going on in and about the world-wide web:

Lilla Rogers, art agent extraordinaire, is giving a video presentation this week all about embracing and selling your creative quirkiness. Have a look here for more information. There is still time to join in.

Flora Bowley has started a monthly newsletter/video series, Studio Diaries. I haven’t joined in yet, but I am thinking about it for the New Year. Art prompts, videos, creative lessons, questions and answers and just general Flora loveliness. More information here.

I have been enjoying ( and using) Jennifer Nelsons weekly Advice for Artists. Sign up here. She also offers a one on one consultation service if you are interested. See her website for more details. Make sure to check out her artists – all swoon worthy

Finally, don’t forget, it is the weekend of all sales. Black Friday and Cyber Monday. In the past I have received some outstanding discounts on online creative courses.If there is something you have your eye on then don’t forget to pop by your want list and see if they are offering a discount.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends. It is a big and busy weekend here and always brings with it a sense of celebration and the start of the holiday season. Makes me happy!

Inktober was started in 2009 and is still going strong today. Mr Jake Parker, the creator of the project, has assigned very few rules

Pick up a pen, draw, hashtag it #inktober, repeat.

Anyone can take part and it seems like artists from all over the world do. I posted a picture and within 2 min 100 more pictures had been posted!

The goal is to practice your drawing skills and develop the positive habit of doing it daily.

Below are a few examples of my own work and a few from others within my surface pattern design community. Click on the pictures below for direct links to their Instagram accounts.

Julie Hamilton

Playing with light and dark. Flower shapes, some seeds and pods and an owl for good measure. When in doubt stick a bird on it.

Julie Hamilton

Next we have Katy Halford. I found it hard to choose between all of her lovely drawings. This one made me smile so here it is

Katy Halford

Mary Tanana made some beautiful drawings on black paper with touches of gold, courtesy of uniball gelpens.

Mary Tanana

Heather Dutton spent her time illustrating every letter of the alphabet with beautiful patterns. Check out her instagram account to see more.

Heather Dutton

Amanda McGee pretty much described all of us with her illustration. I am a big fan of her beautiful hand lettering!

Amanda McGee

Below is Flora Chang of Happy Doodle Land. Her name says it all. She loves to draw. Check out her new colouring book!

Flora Chang

Inktober will be back again next year, but don’t let that stop you from picking up a pen and just busting loose. Until then, feel free to share it with the rest of us on hashtag #shareyoursketch – another fun community to share your creative process.

Very happy to be on the Big island of Hawaii again and very happy to report that life is still better at the beach.

It’s still 83F, sunny with cloudy periods,possible showers, an earthquake or two and the possibility of a tsunami. The lava is still flowing but, last I read, all is well. With 8 different ecosystems, mother nature is always up to something here!

For us, as a family, it is time to recharge and get inspired after the winter season in the mountains.

I love discovering new shapes, colours and textures over here. The flora and fauna is so unique and special to the Big Island.I am amazed to still be discovering new buds,seeds and pods after all of my years visiting here.

Always thankful for my big straw hat that spends more time carrying my finds,than on my head. I find it hard to go for a walk or run without picking something up.

Some tropical foliage for your drawing inspiration. Tropical is trending right now. Pineapples, flamingos and large-scale tropical leaves are everywhere.

I have a love on for large tropical leaves. I love any kind of leaf, seed or pod but the more unusual and the bigger, the better.

Sharing some of my favs with you all the way from the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Beach time sketching..

ONE of these things I will not be using for drawing inspiration. Centipedes, ants and the occasional flying cockroach seem to go hand in hand with the tropics.

Inspired by the abundance of leaves in my autumn backyard. So many shades of red, yellow and green. Berry branches, old seed heads and a token mushroom or two make my garden a rather special place at this time of year..

A snapshot of what fall looks like around here…minus the never-ending rain.

I know they should all be raked up and my garden put to bed, but I like to think of it as ground cover for the long winter ahead.

I aspire to be a gardener, but while I love everything in the garden, I don’t like the time and energy it takes to deal with my garden. Long ornamental grasses, big rocks and flowering bushes are fine with me for now. I am hoping in time that my feelings may change and I will be motivated to embrace everything it has to offer.

Collected on a morning run.

Leaves in my sketchbook.

I have one garden leaf in particular that I love.

I love the shape and changing colour of this leaf as the season progresses.I know I should know what type of bush this belongs to, but I am sorry, I don’t.

Finding a bit of inspiration from its shape and colours to be used in some surface pattern design.

The beginning of the Bayberry collection – coming soon!

May the sun be shining bright where you live. I am sending all of our rain to California where it is needed most.

Mushroom season is slowly coming to an end here in Whistler. The temperature has dropped, the clouds have rolled in and snow is slowly creeping down the mountain.

I will miss the whispering sounds of pickers scouring the woods. The different shapes, texture and colour peeking out from the most unexpected of places.
There really is something special about the enchanted, woodland forest complete with toadstools and fairies that brings your imagination to life.

Unfortunately, I have to admit I have still not picked any mushrooms for my own table.I am still a little unsure of what is good and what is not so good. I am not taking any responsibility for poisoning my family or sending a dinner guest on some wild, hallucinogenic trip. The latter could almost make a good movie though..

The Whistler Naturalist host a great weekend event full of talks and walks The Fungus among Us every October during the season. Next year I am attending. I have a bounty of goodness right here in my backyard and it’s time to start enjoying them…not just drawing and taking pretty pictures though that is fun too..

Some sketchbook love and mushroom illustration for you

It’s time for the snow to fly in Whistler. We have a month to fill up the mountain and valley with that white, fluffy stuff.

Until then I will be off in my own little tropical world on The Big Island of Hawaii. Expect to see lots of foliage mixed with beautiful, watery blues and shades of green here on my blog. I am bringing some watercolors and hope to learn how to use them.